The Other Kung Fu Chick

[feminine_menace]

The doc said YT is okay for skateboarding practice, as long as she doesn't do anything too crazy, so she's been just sort of cruising over the hills. She's roaming further than usual, because she's looking for someone.

She hasn't seen the kung fu chick since she went to the infirmary the other day. YT's kind of curious about her. And she also wants to learn her name, if possible. Maybe learn some of that cool stuff she was doing. After all, YT's planning to join a war effort soon, and afterward, being able to fight like that - or at least half so well, maybe even a quarter - would certainly be useful in her own world.

YT returns to the spot where she first saw the kung fu girl practicing, hoping that maybe she's back there today.

Comments

[feminine-menace.livejournal.com]

Two years. Jesus. But YT doesn't say that. "I can jump. And pull myself up on things. But I don't know if I can go that high, even on my plank. Hey, there's a waitrat." YT flags it down and orders coffee for herself, then waits for Steph to order.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph asks for coffee, and for a sandwich. Training's hungry work.

She glances over at YT. "I'm not Bound or anything. Don't worry, she doesn't usually keep you that long if you're alive. Least, I think so."

[feminine-menace.livejournal.com]

"Oh. Ummm, you're one of the dead folks. Okay..." Man, that's awkward. What's she supposed to say? Sorry? But it doesn't seem to bother Steph. "I did meet one guy who was Bound for a year. That'd drive me ballistic. I mean, this place doesn't have good enough skateboarding ground for me to stay here that long. Nothing to grind on, except maybe the roof, and nothing to 'poon."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"There's air." Steph's face lights up. "I met a wizard - I don't think he's around any more - but he made me a flying skateboard. I mean, it's a carpet, but it's a skateboard, and it flies."

[feminine-menace.livejournal.com]

YT's eyes go wide. "Whoa. All I have is smartwheels." Not that they're anything to sneeze at, mind you. "Although if I go to Mainframe, where the computer sprites are from, I'm gonna have a flying surfboard. And armor, so I can fly around the Web. But I haven't been there yet." YT's obviously not happy about the delay. She'd like to have a flying skateboard now.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Wait ... fly around the Web, like the internet? DUDE."

Steph is all wide-eyed.

"That's like something from the future!"

And then she remembers where she is. "--oh, right. You're a future girl?"

[feminine-menace.livejournal.com]

"Depends. I'm from 2007, but I've figured out that my Earth right then isn't like any other Earth at the same time, at least that I know about. None of the others have smartwheels or a Metaverse and the government in their Americas is still going.

"Mainframe, though, it's not a future thing. It's actually from ten years in my past. Or, well, maybe not mine. But it's a world inside a computer, and people travel around the Net from one system to another. Things work a little differently."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Dude, that's totally awesome."

She slurps the coffee the waitrats bring.

"Yeah, you're a little bit in my future. And the other stuff, I'm totally not even going to touch that. Worlds are weird."

[feminine-menace.livejournal.com]

YT mixes some milk and cream into her own coffee. "Mine's apparently a little weirder than most. Relatively speaking. I mean, to me, it's normal."

Taking a sip of her coffee, she looks curiously at Steph. "What's yours like?

[alwaysroomforhope]

"...pretty weird," Steph admits, grinning. "Even to me."

She looks wistful for a moment.

"Cool place, though."

[feminine-menace.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," YT sighs, remembering fondly the streets of L.A., or the Street in the Metaverse. "I kind of know what you mean." Although I can go back.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"Yeah." Steph is quiet and wistful for a moment, and then shrugs. "Well, shit happens, y'know? Anyway, Milliways is great. I've met some awesome folk here."

[feminine-menace.livejournal.com]

"Like who?" YT asks. She's met some pretty weird and awesome folks here herself. Maybe they've made friends with the same ones.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph grins, touching the silver dolphin bracelet on her wrist unconsciously. "I know a guy who shoots fire from his skin. That's pretty awesome. And a girl from three hundred years in the future who fights vampires. Mel's really cool."

[feminine-menace.livejournal.com]

"Don't know if I've met them, unless the first one's Dr. D," YT says. "He's pretty cool. Ray Stantz, too. And there's Merlin," she adds, smiling warmly. There's obviously more to that than him just being interesting.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph shakes her head. "No ... his name's Zuko. I met Ray, a while back. He's cool. Don't know a Dr D."

[feminine-menace.livejournal.com]

YT's eyes kind of pop. "Zuko? I met him too. Didn't see him do anything with fire. He was calling himself Li but I found out his real name from someone else later." She drinks some of her coffee, looking kind of rigid as she does, like she's remembering the meeting and it's not something pleasant to recall. "Did you meet him before he went all...Stepford?"

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph's glance is sharp. She's a bubbly bright teenage girl, but she was still a Bat, and she can still be scarily intense without realising it sometimes.

"...yes, I did," she says slowly. "Did you see him — recently? Is he okay?"

[feminine-menace.livejournal.com]

YT turns away. Normally she can meet any kind of sharp glare, but she feels bad for bringing this up. "It was, like, a month ago. I haven't seem him since and I don't know what's going on now." She turns back to Steph. "I'm sorry," she says, meaning not just for talking about it, but for Zuko flaking out on her, because that seems to be what happened.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph drops her eyes, flushing. "Am I that obvious? I keep telling myself I'm over him, but ... man. Don't worry about it."

[feminine-menace.livejournal.com]

"It happens," YT says. "Even a smart chick can't always bring a guy to his senses. Believe me, I know." She rolls her eyes as she takes another sip of coffee.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph nods. "So ... Merlin?"

[feminine-menace.livejournal.com]

Fair's fair, YT decides, and smiles. "I met him here. Well, of course. But anyway, he's nicer than any guy I've been with back home - honest, you know, doesn't feel the need to be macho. He's got no problem with saying what he means, but it's not the same way I do. I'm blunt because I don't like people bullshitting me. He just doesn't let things get in the way of saying what he feels." She smiles, holding the mug of coffee in her hands. "It's rarer than you'd think."

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph grins. "Yeah ... Zuko's hopeless that way."

Except when he's angry. And then he usually says what she doesn't want to hear.

... Said. Was. She has to remember to use past tense.

"I should totally meet Merlin. Is he, y'know, that Merlin? For real?"

[feminine-menace.livejournal.com]

"Yep. Same one. I don't think he's met King Arthur and all those guys yet - way he told it, the Roman Empire's still around, so it's going to be a couple of hundred years. But yeah, it's him. He does magic and everything." YT kind of giggles here: some of this magic is of an intimate nature.